Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has announced that it will support Solana’s compressed NFTs (cNFTs) to provide a cost-efficient and scalable alternative to owning digital collectibles.
Today we’re releasing support for cNFTs (find them in our popular collections)
cNFTs are a new wave of NFT creation that is only possible on Solana. The “c” stands for compressed (not Cardano, don’t worry), which allows them to be produced at a fraction of the cost of traditional… pic.twitter.com/WbO4qqWLEt
— Magical Eden (@MagicEden) September 14, 2023
cNFTs differ from typical Solana NFTs because their data is compressed and stored off-chain. This makes production in larger quantities more feasible because it requires lower minting costs.
According to Magic Eden, this type of NFT is ideal for creating mass-produced collections in various industries, such as gaming, music, events, and the metaverse. The NFT marketplace believes this will allow creators to reach a broader audience without spending more.
The NFT marketplace also believes that by lowering the costs associated with producing NFTs, it can potentially drive adoption and become an “easy entry point” for new people to try their hand at collecting NFTs. Lower fees allow users to collect NFTs without risking a large amount of money to acquire collections. It lowers the risk of losing money through NFTs.
cNFTs are made possible by Solana’s state compression, a feature that allows as many as 1 million NFTs to be minted for just around $110. Compared to minting NFTs on Ethereum, which could cost anywhere from $2.9 to more than $30 per NFT , the cost of minting is drastically reduced with cNFTs.
Related: “What did I just witness?” Magic Eden turns to porn after its hosting service is hacked
While there can be benefits to hosting NFTs off-chain, it sometimes comes with its own challenges. In 2022, NFTs minted on the crypto exchange FTX broke and showed blank images when the exchange went bankrupt. One engineer pointed out that the NFTs were hosted using a Web2 API, rather than the blockchain, and cautioned that there is a lesson to be learned in hosting NFTs using Web2 technology.
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